The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

256 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)Bormus, a plaintivesong sung byMariandynianreapers in Bithynia.In Bithynia a like mournful ditty, called Bormus or Borimus,was chanted by Mariandynian reapers. Bormus was said to havebeen a handsome youth, the son of King Upias or of a wealthyand distinguished man. One summer day, watching the reapersat work in his fields, he went to fetch them a drink of water andwas never heard of more. So the reapers sought for him, callinghim in plaintive strains, which they continued to chant at harvestever afterwards. 641 ; Hesychius, svv. Βῶρμον and Μαριανουνὸςθρῆνος.§ 2. Killing the Corn-spirit.Lityerses, a songsung at reapingand threshing inPhrygia. Legend ofLityerses.[217]In Phrygia the corresponding song, sung by harvesters both atreaping and at threshing, was called Lityerses. According to onestory, Lityerses was a bastard son of Midas, King of Phrygia, anddwelt at Celaenae. He used to reap the corn, and had an enormousappetite. When a stranger happened to enter the corn-field orto pass by it, Lityerses gave him plenty to eat and drink, thentook him to the corn-fields on the banks of the Maeander andcompelled him to reap along with him. Lastly, it was his customto wrap the stranger in a sheaf, cut off his head with a sickle,and carry away his body, swathed in the corn stalks. But atlast Hercules undertook to reap with him, cut off his head withthe sickle, and threw his body into the river. 642 As Hercules is641 Julius Pollux, iv. 54; Athenaeus, xiv. 11, pp. 619 F{FNS-620 A{FNS642 The story was told by Sositheus in his play of Daphnis. His verses have beenpreserved in the tract of an anonymous writer. See Scriptores rerum mirabiliumGraeci, ed. A. Westermann (Brunswick, 1839), pp. 220 sq.; also Athenaeus,x. 8, p. 415 B{FNS; Scholiast on Theocritus, x. 41; Photius, Lexicon, Suidas,and Hesychius, s.v. “Lityerses”; Apostolius, Centur. x. 74; Servius, on Virgil,Bucol. viii. 68. Photius mentions the sickle with which Lityerses beheaded hisvictims. Servius calls Lityerses a king and says that Hercules cut off his head